The federal government confirmed that cybersecurity and privacy experts are "in constant contact" with public service providers to address the recent "cyber incident" that affected MSH International (MSH), and to protect the personal information of government employees.

MSH, a federal subcontractor, helps Canada Life connect Public Service Health Care Plan (PSHCP) members who travel or work outside Canada with coverage, according to releases this week from the Canadian Treasury Board Secretariat.

Canada Life announced that the PSHCP membership portal became unavailable as a result of the incident, with MSH unable to process or access claim statuses under the plan. According to a statement released today, Wednesday, by Treasury Board President Anita Anand, Canada Life confirmed it is "exploring options to support affected members" during the service outage.

Anand said: "We have asked Canada Life to work closely with MSH to investigate the information that may have been affected and to restore all services in a safe and timely manner."

"This situation serves as a stark reminder of the ongoing risks faced by public and private organizations across Canada and beyond ... and we will continue to work hard to prevent, detect, and manage these threats."